Accurate Miniatures 1/48 A-36 Apache (Squadron Pack)

ACCURATE MINIATURES 1:72 A-36 APACHE

Reviewer: Ralph K (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 7 July 2001

Aircraft:
The A-36 Apache was an early Allison engined Mustang Dive Bomber. Used primarily in North Africa and Burma, the aircraft had a good service record as a low level attack fighter and dive bomber. The Apache looks much like any other early Mustangs with the exception of dive breaks in the wings (which were usually welded shut) and guns protruding from underneath the propeller (and slightly behind it obviously). Since I don't know much about the aircraft history and the specifics of performance I'll talk about the kit.

The Kit:
A-36 Apache (Mustang Dive Bomber) by Accurate Miniatures. This is the squadron package which includes the Kit, Canopy Masks, Wheel Masks, Vac-form canopies, and a set of resin wheels.

The whole shebang retails for about $19.95 (U.S).

I don't think I need to go into the neato packaging, or the annoying instructions. All other Accurate Miniatures reviews talk about those. So aside from all the extras which the squadron pack contains the kit is packaged the same way as all other AM kits. The parts are molded in dark green, and there is a clear sprue which contains the canopy sections, gunsight, wing light and the instrument panel. There was some slight warpage of the fusalage front, on my model, but otherwise the parts are neat and crisp.

Construction:
I began construction by gluing the side consoles onto the fuselage halves, painting them and then attaching the throttle and bomb levers. At this time I also painted the floor and stick and vainly tried to paint around the dials on the instrument panel. The radio equipment came next and finally everything was glued to the fuselage halves. After installing the tail wheel the two halves were glued together. Maybe it was just me, but I had some trouble closing the two halves since the cockpit floor seemed a bit wide, but after some sanding I got it in good. Then came the fun part of weathering the cockpit... some diluted black watercolor paint and dry-brushing with silver did the trick nicely.

The rest of the assembly went really quickly. The wing tops were joined to the bottom, this was glued to the fuselage, air intake and then the vertical stabiliziers got glued on... no filler was required at all, and the kit was starting to come together nicely. Then as always, things began to go bad! I glued together the two halves of the forward fusalage and was dry fitting them onto the plane when I noticed they were narrower than the rest. The front wing roots wanted to sit inside the nose !@!#! After some cussing and bending the wing roots back I managed to get the front of the plane on, but it doesn't look exactly right. I don't know if this was just my kit, or if the problem is present in all of them.

So I had the main airframe together and now I had to decide if I wanted to add the detail parts and then paint, or vice-versa. I went ahead and put on the pitot tube and antenna and then sprayed the sucker with OD on top and neutral gray underneath (this is a quick and easy paintjob, that's why I like USAAF models). After the paint dried came time to paint and add in the guns; carefully, because the barrels have a tendency to fall inside and you'll never get them out - I had to use thin brass tubing for the wing guns since the kit parts looked a little bland. Also the instructions dont specify too well which way the nose guns go in. One side tapers, and well...I think I got 'em backwards. The prop is well engineered so that you can paint the spinner before putting in the blades, and this I did. Then paint (first) and glue in the exhaust stacks and the landing gear components.

The main gear struts are a bit squirrelly and need to be aligned just right and then left to dry or your Mustang will do the splits. I recommend using super glue and letting your kit sit upside-down for some time. The rest of the landing gear goes together nicely, and you should have no trouble with it as long as you are careful. The resin wheels were then drilled out and glued on (they look great) but if your kit doesn't have them then the kit supplied weighted tires look good too, and they are designed so that the tire is painted separately from the wheel which means no masking!

Finally comes the canopy; the fit here is not too great, the windshield needs some sanding to sit flush with the fuselage and the main component in my kit was not wide enough to fit properly. I had to heat it up in hot water and bend it out. The fast frames masks provided in the Squadron set make painting the frames a breeze. You just paint the masks interior green, then overcoat with OD and then stick them in water and apply like you would a decal, the result looks much better than painted frames (at least when I paint them).

That then about does it for assembly...I may have left out some details, but really the only thing you need to know is that assembly is straightforward and there are paltry few problems aside from canopy fit, and the forward fuselage.

Versions & Decals:
Well AM put all this effort into engineering a great kit, and reducing most of the hassles associated with airplane construction (unsightly seems etc...) but they really blew it on the decals. They are thick and don't conform to some of the curves. Even though I used a gloss coat under the decals they still silvered, and some refused to settle at all. The solvent I have didn't help one bit either. I tried and tried to get the decals to work, but they kept sticking to my fingers, pealing off, silvering, and being annoying. The yellow campaign stripes on the wings were the straw that broke the camel's back, they refused to conform to the slots in the dive breaks. I got pissed off, and rubbed all the damn decals off (which wasn't too hard). So now my A-36 stands unfinished, as I wait for my Three Guys Replicas set of decals to arrive in the mail. I'll then weather the beast and display it.

Options:
Oh and lest I forget, what good is a dive bomber without bombs? AM provides a nice set of bombs with individual tail fins and nicely detailed racks and attachment points. The propeller fuse things on the front look a little clunky, but maybe they should. Make sure you use super glue to attach these... there are no pins and the point of contact is smaller than a pin-head. They look very nice though!

Overall:
Well that's that. I highly recommend this kit, and I also highly recommend aftermarket decals, don't bother yourself with the ones in the kit. So good luck and happy modeling.

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